U.S. News & World Report wrote on Jan. 30th that NRA board member, Ted Nugent, is campaigning to become the organization’s next president as a celebrity spokesman in the mold of Charlton Heston.
Nugent said that he:
Stands ready to battle the antigunners in Washington. “Clearly, the NRA is the ultimate ‘we the people,’ family, grass-roots organization for what is clearly Job 1 for free men everywhere: to guarantee our God-given right to keep and bear arms and defend ourselves.
“To be so honored to participate in any way, as an NRA board member or the ultimate honor of serving as president, would surely be a duty I would put my heart and soul into. I am genuinely moved that it is even being discussed. I am ready, willing, and able to serve if the good NRA members call upon me.”
The problem is that Ted Nugent has a long and troubling record of espousing hate speech and threatening violence against political candidates, such as then Senators Obama and Clinton during the democratic presidential campaign. In August of 2007, Nugent went on a vicious onstage rant.
GunGuys.com wrote at the time:
GunGuys.com is urgently demanding that the National Rifle Association immediately remove Ted Nugent from his position as a board member of the NRA after Nugent threatened United States Senators and Presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
According to Rolling Stone’s video (click here):
Decked out in full-on camouflage hunting gear, Nugent wielded two machine guns while raging, “Obama, he’s a piece of s**t. I told him to su*k on my machine gun.
Hey Hillary,†he continued. “You might want to ride one of these into the sunset, you worthless b***h.†Nugent summed up his eloquent speech by screaming “freedom!â€
Another troubling revelation is that Ted Nugent might be guilty of child molestation, or at the least, statutory rape when Courtney Love disclosed on the Howard Stern show in 2004 that she performed oral sex on Nugent when she was only 12-years-old. Despite Love’s allegations, media outlets could not reach Nugent or Courtney Love for comment or to elaborate on the charges.
Finally, Nugent actually boasts of using insensitive, bigoted, sexist and racist language.
According to the Violence Policy Center’s report, “NRA Family Values: The Extremism, Racism, and Sexism Of the National Rifle Association’s Board of Directors“:
Rock musician Ted Nugent laments a changing South Africa. In 1990 he told the Detroit Free Press magazine that “apartheid isn’t that cut and dry. All men are not created equal. “
It is telling how extreme the NRA has become, not only because it failed to demand Nugent’s immediate resignation after his threats against two United States Senators — now the President of the United States and Secretary of State — but that the organization might elect Nugent as its next president despite his appalling actions and statements.
At a time of upheaval, Americans are demanding a more balanced approach to our nation’s problems. So let’s call a spade a spade: the NRA looks desperate, pathetic, and now virtually irrelevant politically. An extremist such as Ted Nugent as the NRA’s figurehead might be the final straw for politicians, the media, and indeed sensible NRA members to finally distance themselves from this radical lobby once and for all.
